Read Red the First for Free Online Page B

turned to the hostage. “I’m sorry, Dr.
Patel. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that Red is very
protective, but don’t worry—he’ll treat you right when he figures
out you’re telling the truth.”
    Patel nodded.
    Red made sure Elizabeth’s gun was
loaded and told her to guard the hostage. Leaving Zena with her, he
brought Michael with him to find the supply truck. They walked down
the road until they spotted an army truck with a red cross on the
side, about ten miles away, just as Patel had claimed.
    “ Cover me,” he told Michael,
whose gun skills were coming along nicely under Red’s tutelage. The
boy’s Ruger LCP was equipped with a laser, but the kid really
didn’t need it at this range. Red ran toward the truck, keeping his
head low. He flung open the driver’s side door, aiming his gun at
the seat. Empty. He did a similar check of the back of the
truck.
    “ All clear,” he told
Michael. Checking out the back, he saw that the stranger had been
telling the truth. Popping open the hood, he examined the
engine—just a broken hose. As he worked under the hood, he had
Michael watch what he was doing.
    “ This will be your job some
day,” Red said. “It’s time you...”
    Searing pain grazed his temple. A
bullet pinged as it ricocheted across the highway. Flinging himself
over Michael, he knocked him to the ground, shielding the boy with
his own body.
    Whispering in Michael’s ear, he said.
“Don’t let them see your pistol until I give the word. I’m going to
play dead. Push me off of you like I’m a corpse, and when I say now , it’s Call of Duty for real. In the
face, in the stomach, wherever you can shoot ‘em. Don’t hold back.
Got it?”
    “ I got it,” Michael
whispered back.
    “ Now, push me off of you the
best you can.”
    With a heave, and a grunt, the boy
managed to shove Red’s weight off to the side. Red flopped like a
piece of meat and remained still. His head throbbed, and warm blood
was streaming through his hair, but Red knew it was only a flesh
wound. He also knew from his time in the military, though, that
head wounds were difficult to assess at a glance. He was counting
on his injury to look far worse than it was.
    Although his eyes were closed, he heard
footsteps approaching, and men’s voices. There were at least four
of them, but he couldn’t be sure.
    “ Is that your pop?” one of
them asked Michael.
    “ You killed him!” Michael
screamed. “Why! Why!”
    What a great little actor, Red
thought.
    “ We saw the truck
first.”
    “ No you didn’t—we did!”
Michael’s voice sounded near tears.
    “ Them’s the breaks,
kid.”
    “ He’s a feisty little
thing,” one of the other men said. “I wonder how he’s gonna taste
char-broiled.”
    “ Spicy, I bet.”
    “ You’re not gonna broil me,”
Michael said. “That would be gross.”
    “ Nah. Old people taste gross
broiled—gotta stew anyone over about twenty-five or thirty, but the
young ones are pretty good as friers.”
    “ Like this little girl the
other week. After we took turns tenderizing her, she made for a
tasty rack of ribs.”
    Red realized by their tone and
malicious laughter that they weren’t just trying to scare Michael;
they really did intend to turn him into a meal. They were like
overgrown house cats, torturing their prey before eating it. He
never felt so much rage and abhorrence.
    “ Now!”
    In one fluid motion, Red’s gun was out
of its holster. He pumped two of the guys with bullets. Michael
took care of the other two without any problems. Unfortunately,
this wasn’t the first kill for Red or Michael; all three members of
Red’s new family had needed to kill before. Elizabeth always got
quiet afterward. Michael, however, treated it like a walk through
the park.
    He watched the boy get to his feet,
clumps of pulpy gray brain matter clinging to his straggly blond
hair. Blood had splattered across his face and clothing—Red’s too.
Michael went over to the fallen bodies